three trees

My desire is to speak something of value, to write something worth reading, to love something in honesty and to live like a fire - warming and illuminating those around me. To that end, I am compelled to write the things that I believe to be of value.


If you desire truth, if you truly wish to open your heart and mind to that which is and not merely that which you choose to believe, you must first drain yourself of the doctrine and established ideas, the mental constructs you have collected through your life. Some of these things you received from your parents. Some from friends, teachers, pastors, your favorite t.v. show, an interesting book, some you have - even though you cant recall where they came from, but you cling to them because - right or wrong - it comforts you to have an answer. Don't worry, the truths will remain like stones on the sieve and the rest that falls through like sand isn't worth keeping anyway.

I'd like to use this blog to talk specifically about Christianity mainly because it was my religion for a large portion of my life. I ate, slept and breathed Christ for many, many years. I was devoted. I read my Bible and prayed daily. I was a Prophet and a Pastor at a very young age. I was a Psalmist writing songs for worship service. I was taking my faith to the street and witnessing to strangers in the park and the supermarket. The Christian doctrine was in me like my own blood and yet... here I am.
I'm not even close to being a Christian today! So what happened?
How does a person change a belief?
I'm forced to look back at my own life and access what it was that opened my eyes to a new way of looking at, well... everything.
Some of you reading this are Christians and you're offended already. That's okay. I'd like to tell you a story before you write me off completely as a backslider with a grudge. Its a short story, I promise.

Once upon a time (because all good stories should start that way), there were three handsome houses on a friendly looking street, and one day a group of children passed by them on their way to the playground. In the front yard of the first house there was a small tree. It was a very young and not quite strong enough to climb on. The woman who lived in the first house looked out her window and saw the children coming and knowing how children can be she stood on the front porch to make sure they didn't climb on her tree and destroy it before it had a chance to grow. Well, sure enough as they passed one of the little boys went to grab a branch, but the woman shouted and scared him off, so the children kept walking.
As they approached the second house, they saw an old man sleeping in a rocker on his porch but soon their eyes drifted to the big-ol'-old tree in his yard. "Come on!" they screamed, "let's climb it!" but as they grasped a limb to climb, it made a cracking noise and no sooner had they jumped back, then the limb crashed to the ground, waking the old man from his nap. "You kids get out of here and leave my tree alone!" He screamed at them, because he knew that even though his tree looked tall and strong, it was a dead tree and lacked the strength to withstand children and their foolishness. "Trees should be left alone..." he thought to himself.
The children ran along frustrated and a little sad that there were no trees to play in. But at last they came to the third house on the block and in the yard was a tall, beautiful, green tree and a swing hung from one strong branch and a rope with knots from the other. They looked at each other and back at the tree and in the blink of an eye they were swinging and climbing and laughing. A man and his wife sat on the porch swing smiling as they watched the neighborhood children playing in their tree.
The end.

How did we say in Church?... oh yeah... "he who has an ear, let him hear."
The children are your thoughts, my thoughts, questions, doubts, concepts, ideas, etc... the street is your mind and heart. The trees are our beliefs and we are the owners.
Christianity is your tree.
Which person are you? Is your faith, your belief system so young that the slightest tug will kill it? Are you so scared for it that you stand watch by the window making sure no one comes to try and contradict anything you believe? Are you afraid of looking because you might hear something different?
Are you the old man locked in your belief even though it's lifeless and "having a form of Godliness" lacks the strength to stand up to the push and tug of thoughts, questions and scrutiny of others? Are you angry when people come along and expose how frail it is by breaking off a branch? Why not cut it down and plant anew?
Or are you the couple on the porch who enjoy watching the children play in the tree - because you know the tree is strong and living. Are you unafraid of children pulling on the branches because you know, they cant really hurt anything... they're just doing what children do?
which one will you be?
which tree do you have growing in your yard?

 Just a thought before I get into it...